Five Games Await Softball's Season-Opening Weekend
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State softball opens the 2022 season at the Candrea Classic with games scheduled against New Mexico, Southern Utah and No. 2 Alabama while playing a pair of games in Las Cruces, N.M. against Texas State and New Mexico State.
Friday, February 11
Oregon State vs. New Mexico – 2:30 p.m. PT
Hillenbrand Stadium, Tucson, Ariz. (Arizona Live Stream)
Saturday, February 12
Oregon State vs. Southern Utah – 12 p.m. PT
Hillenbrand Stadium, Tucson, Ariz. (Arizona Live Stream)
Oregon State vs. Alabama - 2:30 p.m. PT
Hillenbrand Stadium, Tucson, Ariz. (Arizona Live Stream)
Sunday, February 13
Oregon State vs. Texas State – 9:30 a.m. PT
Las Cruces, N.M., NM State Softball Complex (Live stats available)
Oregon State at New Mexico State - 12 p.m. PT
Las Cruces, N.M., NM State Softball Complex (WAC Digital Network)
FOLLOW THE BEAVS:
• Links to livestreams and live stats will be available on the softball schedule page at OSUBeavers.com
• Follow @BeaverSoftball on Twitter for the most up-to-date news on all things Beaver Softball.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW:
• Season and single game tickets for the 2022 Oregon State softball season are available for purchase via BeaverTickets.com and 1-800-GO-BEAVS.
FROM THE CIRCLE:
• The Beavers return one pitcher to the 2022 roster from last season in veteran Mariah Mazon.
• Mazon recorded a 2.30 ERA in 2021, posting 14 wins in 36 appearances.
• Mazon pitched 204.0 total innings, 23 complete games and six shutouts while striking out 204 batters.
• Mazon also returns after earning All-Pacific Region Second Team as a junior. In 2020, Mazon was named to the Softball America All-America Third Team. She earned NFCA All-Region Second Team and Pac-12 All-Conference Second Team honors as a sophomore while during her freshman campaign she finished with a Pac-12 All-Conference Third Team honor and was named to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team.
• New to the pitching staff and joining Mazon are four new faces, including one transfer Tarni Stepto who was a member of the Australian National Team and helped the team win a bronze medal this past summer in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Rounding out the freshmen pitching class includes Morgan Flesland, Ainsley Lambert and Sarah Haendiges.
KEY RETURNERS:
• Frankie Hammoude begins her junior campaign in 2022. Hammoude started in all 46 games at first base and was named Pac-12 First Team and All-Pacific Region First Team in 2021.
• Hammoude returns leading the team with a .360 BA after recording 49 hits including 17 home runs, breaking an OSU single-season program record, to go along with 41 RBI and a .765 slugging percentage. Hammoude posted a .456 on-base percentage with 24 runs scored.
• Grace Messmer returns for her sophomore season after starting 44 games at third base or shortstop for the Beavers. Messmer finished second on the team with six doubles, fourth with 32 hits and fifth with 12 RBI.
• In the field, Messmer ranked second with 69 assists and third with five double-plays.
• Sophomore Charity Sevaaetasi returns in 2022 after starting 43 games as a utility player for head coach Laura Berg. Sevaaetasi led the team with 10 doubles and was ranked fourth in RBI (16) and tied for third in home runs (5).
• Xiao Gin started in 45 games at second base in her COVID freshman season. Gin ranked third on the team with six doubles after finishing the season with 24 hits to go along with five RIB, six doubles, one triple and five runs.
• Madison Simon returns for her COVID freshman season after starting 45 games in both the outfield and the infield. Simon was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week (Feb. 16) after totaling seven hits in four games during the first weekend of the season. She finished with 26 hits, 10 RBI, four doubles, one triple, three home runs and 20 runs scored.
NEW FACES:
• The Beavers signed 15 newcomers to the 2022 roster, including 12 freshmen and three transfers.
• The transfers include Australian National Team pitcher and bronze medalist Stepto, Arizona State catcher Harleigh Braswell and Utah infielder Savanah Whatley.
• Freshman Eliana Gottlieb was recently named to the Israeli National Team and comes in with 11 other freshmen in Des Rivera, Erin Mendoza, Kaylah Nelson, Anna Carreon, Flesland, Kiani Nakamura, Lambert, Kiki Escobar, Haendiges, Lici Campbell and Kristalyn Romulo.
COACHING PROFILES:
• Head coach Berg hung up her cleats after nearly 20-years of playing softball and spent a year with the LAPD in 2010-11 before returning to the game as an assistant coach for the 2012 season at Oregon State.
• Berg enters her tenth season at the helm of the Oregon State program, recording four NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Associate head coach Marcie Green also has experience with law enforcement. Green studied criminology at Fresno State and spent five years as a prison guard at Corcoran State Prison in California following graduation before starting to coach. Green works primarily with the pitchers.
• Assistant coach Eric Leyba returns for his fourth season on staff working with the infielders and batters..
• Volunteer Assistant Coach Shelly Prochaska is no stranger to the Orange & Black. Prochaska played for former Beaver head coach Kirk Walker from 2000-03 before becoming an undergraduate assistant in 2004. Prochaska is entering her third season under coach Berg.
• Sarah Hoechlin begins her first year as the Director of Operations.
NATIONAL SOFTBALL:
• Coach Berg is the most decorated USA Softball Olympic Athlete after joining the National Team in 1994. Berg won three gold medals for the United States (1996 - Atlanta, 2000 - Sydney, 2004 - Athens) and two silver (2008 – Beijing, 2020 - Tokyo).
• Berg joined the Women's National Team coaching staff in 2012 and has served as an assistant before being named the head coach for the Junior WNT in 2017. Most recently, Berg was an assistant with the WNT that won silver at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games after softball returned to the Olympics.
• Junior Hammoude made her National Team debut in the summer of 2019 after trying out and making the Junior Women's National Team.
• Hammoude helped the JWNT to become the 2019 U-19 WBSC World Cup Champions after hitting a three-run home run to tie things up in the championship game against Japan. USA went on to capture the title.
• Sophomore Messmer was a member of the Junior National Canadian Team in the summer of 2019.
• Messmer helped Canada to a Bronze Medal finish at the WBSC World Cup after recording a sac fly against Australia.
• Freshman Gottlieb recently became a member of the Israeli National Team this past winter.
• Newcomer Stepto helped the Australian National Team win a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo as a pitcher/hitter.
NCAA TOURNAMENT:
• The Beavers have reached the NCAA Tournament four times under the direction of head coach Laura Berg. As a program, OSU has made a postseason appearance 13 times.
• The Beavers are 30-22 all-time in their 13 tournament appearances following two wins and two losses at the Tuscaloosa Regional in 2018.
• The last time OSU won a regional was in 2006 when it played Nevada and No. 19 Baylor twice. OSU went on to play in the Women's College World Series that year.
• Berg and former head coach Kirk Walker (1995-2012) are the only head coaches in program history to reach the NCAA Tournament.
KNOW WHAT IT TAKES:
• Oregon State's coaching staff is no stranger when it comes to the NCAA Tournament and WCWS.
• Both Berg and Green played at Fresno State in the '90s and gained plenty of experience in the path to the WCWS.
• Coach Berg played from 1994-95 and 1997-98 making it to the WCWS three times and won the national championship in '98.
• Coach Green played from 1990-93 and appeared in three WCWS, including a runner-up finish in 1990.
• Volunteer assistant coach Prochaska made a NCAA Regional appearance in all four seasons at Oregon State.
For more information on the Oregon State softball team, visit OSUBeavers.com or follow the team @BeaverSoftball on Twitter and Instagram.
OUR MISSION
Oregon State Athletics strives to Build Excellent Authentic Visionary Student-Athletes (Go BEAVS).